Readers reflect on enjoyable stories they know, brainstorm criteria that make a story "good," analyze a New York Times article about innovative children's performances, re-envision classics on their own, and peer edit drafts. Use this as...

Second graders re-write a story. In this alternate endings instructional activity, 2nd graders read Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse, by Leo Lionni, stopping to discuss the events and predict what will happen next. Students work in groups...

Students explore how much pleasure reading can bring, explain the concept of "story sequence", "re-tell" a story through art, and read other folktales.

Young scholars research that a narrative film tells a story using camera movement, sound, lighting, editing and other film making techniques. The audience must be taken into consideration when making a film. They explore what makes their...

Youngsters retell the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff. They write a sentence for speech bubbles for a character in the story, identify the phrases that can be used for retelling a story, and in small groups write a sentence for the...

Read this twist on Goldilocks and the Three Bears: Dusty Locks and the Three Bears by Susan Lowell. Kindergartners listen, predict, and discuss the story. They then participate in a dramatization of the story and draw a picture...

How did colonial settlement and the establishment of the United States affect Native Americans in the Chesapeake region? Your young historians will analyze contemporary and historical maps, read informational texts, and work in groups to...

Every culture has its own stories to tell. An interesting educator's guide shares a large collection of fairytales and folktales, some from different cultures and some re-creations of classics. A summary and brief teaching ideas...

In this storytelling lesson, children practice re-telling the story of "How Bear Lost His Tale", review and write out the story sequence, and learn about homophones like tail/tale, sail/sale, etc. Extension activities for various content...

When scholars re-tell a story, do they boil it down to important details in a logical order? Practice summarizing narratives using this think-aloud strategy, which is scripted here for your convenience. After explaining why this is an...

In a health class, participants read a story about a young woman who contacted HPV. The story is not included in the lesson plan, but is easily located on the Internet. The teacher then describes different scenarios for individuals to...

Start kids thinking about point of view and autobiographies by telling them a short story about your morning (first person), and then asking a volunteer to re-tell the story to you (second person). There are tips to help you tie this...

Primary learners grasp sequence of events by discussing morning routines and reviewing the story of Little Red Riding Hood. They explore the necessity of correct order of events. As a class, create a story with a beginning, middle, and...

Teaching young learners about similes is easy as pie with this primary grade language arts lesson. Following a class reading of the children's book, Quick as a Cricket by Audrey Wood, young readers learn the definition of a simile...

Students work in pairs to out act and then retell a story.  In this personal experience lesson, students act out an event in their life and their partner retells the story. Students discuss sequence of events and dialogue. Students...

In this comprehension check worksheet, students define 3 vocabulary words, define 1 literary term, and respond to 6 short answer questions pertaining to chapter 13 of A Separate Peace by John Knowlesin order to help them better...

Students tell stories through dance. In this ballet lesson, students learn pantomime dance skills and examine "The Nutcracker" ballet performances as they examine ballet as storytelling.

Students investigate the concept of reading comprehension while focusing upon the sequencing of a story. They read the story and use the cutouts included in the lesson to put the story in order. Students also engage in a class discussion.

Kevin Henkes has composed a series of books in which Lilly the mouse is a main character. Third graders use illustrations and key details as they compare and contrast the books, Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse and another...

Explore the dancing prodigy and Depression-era African-American icon Bill Robinson as scholars learn new vocabulary words in context. As you read Leo Dillon's Rap a Tap Tap they listen for six new words: clatter, greet,...

For this "The Tell-Tale Heart" worksheet, students write an essay about how Edgar Allan Poe keeps the reader in suspense. The worksheet helps students construct the essay through eleven different scaffolding steps.

In this study guide for chapter 5 of A Separate Peace, students complete 4 vocabulary definitions, 2 literary term definitions and 9 short answer questions. Finally, students respond to a given passage.

Fourth graders identify story grammar elements of "The Three Billy Goats Gruff." The elements are recorded on a chart and students use the story grammar elements from the chart to retell the story.

Expand your study of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak with a question for each level of Bloom's Taxonomy. These questions focus on part four of the novel; each is paired with at least one quote from the text for context and teacher...